The Power Of Incumbency

Over the last five days – two of which were the weekendÂ – U.S. Rep. John Sweeney’s office sent out three press releases announcing he had “secured” a total of $381,700 in federal funding for:

Dutchess County Community College ($100,000/aviation program)

The Lake Placid Airport ($81,700/terminal improvements)

Fort Edward ($200,000/brownfields grant)

This is just one of the many reasons why it’s so hard to run against an incumbent – challengers don’t have access to public funds to hand out hither andÂ yon to sweeten voters’ dispositions in an election year.

Unless they already hold public office, challengers also don’t generally have a ready-made, taxpayer-funded press operation that can crank out announcements. They have to use campaign funds to hire spokespeople.

According to Sweeney’s congressional Web site, which helpfully chronicles press releases all the way back to March 2004,Â hisÂ outputÂ has increased dramatically as the 2006 election draws near.

From March 2004 to December 2005, Sweeney’s congressional office issued 101 press releases, with the montly output ranging between zero and 10.

Sweeney’s Democratic challenger, Kirsten Gillibrand,Â started running last fall, but did not formally announce her candidacy until January 2006.

From January to mid-August of this year, Sweeney’s public press officeÂ has put out 90 press releases – and that does not include anything sent out since Aug. 23.

The top production months so far were June and July with 27 releases each. But it seems to meÂ that the final number could be higher, since some releases are missing.

A July 31 announcement that Sweeney had secured a $37,500 federal grant for the Hyde Collection in Glens Falls, for example, was not posted on his congressional Web site. But it did appear on his campaign Web site.